Meet Jelly, the newest zebra shark hatchling produced at Point Defiance Zoo
At just 9.8 inches long and weighing roughly as much as a slice of bread, zebra shark pup Jelly may be small. But her hatch represents a big step for endangered shark conservation in Grit City.
She is the first zebra shark hatchling at the Raja Ampat Research and Conservation Centre nursery in Indonesia to originate from Tacoma, over 8,000 miles away on the other side of the Pacific, according to a release from Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium.
Jelly entered the world in mid-November, the first of seven zebra shark eggs produced at the aquarium this year to be sent overseas as part of a global conservation effort to restore endangered shark populations.
Unlike offspring developed by asexual reproduction, the brown-patterned pup is the result of natural mating between her parents, resident sharks Peanut and Butter. Their resulting embryos were heterozygous, meaning they contain greater genetic diversity and can have a greater impact on rebuilding wild populations.
After Peanut laid her eggs earlier this year, a veterinary team monitored them with close care until September, performing ultrasounds and examining for viability. The eggs were then flown from Washington to Indonesia in a temperature-controlled and oxygenated shipping box.
Jelly will now be raised by “shark nannies” in Indonesia with minimal human contact until she reaches maturity. Then she will be released into a protected ocean habitat spanning 5 million acres.
Zebra sharks are native to the Indo-West Pacific region and face population declines due to overfishing and habitat threats. It’s suspected that numbers have dropped by more than 50% over the past three generations, according to The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List.
Its endangered status sparked the creation of the Stegostoma tigrinum Augmentation and Recovery Project, known as the StAR Project for short. This initiative led by the international coalition ReShark helps breed sharks under human care and return their eggs to native habitats.
Under this project, Jelly will be tagged and monitored by scientists to track her movements, survival and how she adjusts to the wild.
“This is conservation in action,” said Point Defiance Aquarium Curator Chris Spaulding in a press release. “To see pups from our adult sharks in Tacoma hatching in Indonesia and preparing for a life in the wild is extraordinary. It shows the powerful, real-world impact of global collaboration.”
The Point Defiance Zoo plans to continue this program and keep introducing Tacoma-bred sharks into their natural habitat.
“We’re hoping that Peanut, the female, and Butter have more viable eggs sometime between April and July,” Tessa Miller, the zoo’s communications supervisor, said. “Then we’re going to put all of the viable eggs on the list as candidates to send again. So it depends on the capacity of the program, but we’re hopeful that she’ll lay all the eggs and that they can all be part of it again.”
This story was originally published November 28, 2025 at 12:42 PM.
